The present invention relates to a search system interface. It has particular utility as a graphical user interface to a system for retrieving digital documents.
Whilst computer-user interfaces moved over two decades ago from menu-driven to graphical user interfaces, in general search interfaces provided by computers remain stubbornly text-based. Whilst graphical user elements like text-fields or drop-down lists might be used, in the vast majority of cases, the user still specifies what he requires by typing words and numbers, or by using a graphical user interface to select from a predetermined list of words or numbers.
An example of a using a graphical user interface to select from a predetermined list of words or numbers is seen in European patent application EP 2 151 994. In that patent application, a user interface for a television is described which allows the user to select icons representing channels, times or genres of content, and to drag and drop the icons in turn onto a search icon. The icons have text on them, the drag-and-drop operation thus being similar to the user selecting words using drop-down menus or check boxes, and then selecting a ‘Search’ button.
There are some isolated examples of known computerised interfaces which allow a user to specify graphically the output of a system. Most of these relate to searches for images on the World Wide Web. Here, the user is provided with a painting application which he runs and uses to sketch the sort of image he is looking for, data representing that sketch then being sent to an image search engine to find images which have similar colours in similar arrangements.
One example of this is US patent application US 2012/0162244, which discloses an additional feature of converting the user's drawing into textual descriptions of elements of that drawing, and submitting those textual descriptions to a search engine.
Another example is US patent application 2008/0133592 which discloses a computerised application for identifying animals and plants. Here, the user chooses a physical topography which represents the shape of the animal or plant, and then selects and applies colours and/or textures to sections of that framework to best represent whatever animal or plant the user has seen. The computerised application then searches a database to find records which match the user's drawing.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system interface comprising:
a display device;
a pointing device;
a processor in communication with said display device and said pointing device in use, said processor being arranged in operation to:
i) control said display device to display a system output mapping area;
ii) receive mapping inputs from said pointing device indicative of:
a) one or more sub-areas of said system output mapping area; and
b) one or more system output component categories attributed to each of said sub-areas;
iii) further control said display device to display, for each display sub-area, a visual indication of the extent of said display sub-area marked with a map symbol symbolising the attribution of the system output component category to that sub-area;
iv) generate search data from said mapping inputs by converting data defining each of said one or more sub-areas to data defining a corresponding system output region, and associating the system output component category attributed to that sub-area with that system output region; and
v) pass said search data to said search system.
By providing the user with a search system interface comprising a processor, a pointing device and an associated display device, said devices both being in communication with the processor, and arranging the processor to:
control the display device to display a system output mapping area;
receive mapping inputs from said pointing device indicative of one or more sub-areas of said system output mapping area, and one or more system output component categories attributed to each of said sub-areas;
further control said display device to display, for each sub-area, a visual indication of the extent of said sub-area in association with a map symbol symbolising the system output component category attributed to that sub-area;
generate search data from said mapping inputs by converting data defining each of said one or more sub-areas to data defining a corresponding system output region, and associating the system output component category attributed to that sub-area with that system output region; and
pass said search data to said search system, the user is provided with a search system interface which enables him to specify search parameters both through the extent of the sub-area, and by a selection of a map symbol to be applied to that area. Because the map symbol is symbolic, i.e. it represents something other than itself, many different types of search parameter can be specified by the map symbol. Thus, a user interface is provided which can be applied to a greater variety of search types than has hitherto been possible. In particular, the user interface can be applied to searches other than image searches.
Where the user inputs a plurality of sub-areas, the interface allows him, in effect, to draw a map symbolically representing the arrangement of components in different categories which the user wishes to see in search results returned by the search system. In this way, the user is able to specify, rapidly and intuitively, the internal structure of an item, or an arrangement of items, he wishes to obtain from the search system.
It is known to use a pictorial, yet abstract, representation of some variation of a continuously or discretely changing property over some space. Examples include a coloured contour map of a geographical area representing the continuous change in height above sea-level, or a phase diagram in thermodynamics representing the discrete phase change of a substance over a space mapped using pressure and temperature co-ordinates. However, until the advent of the present invention no-one had seen that a similarly abstract, pictorial representation might be used to allow a user to specify a desired composite search result, intuitively and rapidly. Here, abstract in used in the sense that the graphical signs used have symbolic meaning to the user—they symbolize something other than themselves.
The interface can then either be used in searching a database for pre-existing entities composed from categorised constituent parts, or can be used in searching a database for pre-existing categorised items to be composed into a new composite entity.
The pointing device can, for example, be the touchscreen of a tablet, phablet or smartphone, or a gesture detector, or a computer mouse. In the former three cases, the touchscreen also provides the display device. In the latter case, the display is further controlled to display a pointer whose position is controlled by movement of the computer mouse, and tracked by said processor.
The map symbol can take a huge variety of forms. In some embodiments, it is a visual style applied to the sub-area. Visual styles include colours, shades; patterns, gradients, textures, or any combination of two or more of these. Colour is a good choice of visual style since it can be recognised by a user even when applied to a single pixel. In other embodiments, the map symbol might be a label, perhaps outside the area, with an arrow or line linking it to the sub-area.
Preferably, the generation of the search data comprises calculating one or more search parameters as a function of the position of each mapping input on the display. The search data generated might include one ordinal search value type (e.g. time) or two ordinal search value types (e.g. longitude and latitude). The function might generate one ordinal search value type whilst nevertheless depending on both the abscissa and ordinate values of the position of the mapping input on the screen (similar to English text being written using a word processor in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom order—thus the number of words up to a given point in the text depends on both screen co-ordinates).
In cases where the interface is used in searching a database for pre-existing categorised items to be composed into a new composite entity, and the generation of the search data comprises calculating one or more ordinal search values as a function of the position of each mapping input on the display, the processor is preferably further arranged in operation to respond to receipt of said categorised digital items, or identifiers thereof, from the search system by displaying a graphical sign representing one or more digital items at a position in said system output mapping area corresponding to one or more ordinal values characterising said one or more digital items.
When the output mapping area represents a system output space defined by one or more ordinal value types, the system interface is especially well-suited to generating search queries for submission to a spatial database.
In cases where the screen position of a mapping input indicates one ordinal search value type, then two mapping inputs can be taken to define a range of that ordinal search value type to be included in said search data. In cases where the generation of the search data comprises converting the screen position of a mapping input to the values of two ordinal search value types (e.g. converting an input on a geographical map to latitude and longitude values), then the search system interface enables a user to specify a search area rapidly by using the pointing device to generate three or more mapping inputs.
By providing the user with a touchscreen paint interface, the user is able to rapidly input complex shapes more quickly that might be achieved by inputting the points of a polygon defining that area.
In some embodiments, said search system output mapping area features a reference framework indicative of the way in which different parts of the mapping area map to different parts of the output. In embodiments in which said search data comprises two ordinal search value types, said reference framework might comprise reference lines indicating a two-dimensional co-ordinate system to the user. The references lines might, for example, be labelled axes or labelled gridlines to show the co-ordinate system to the user. The co-ordinate system might be a Cartesian co-ordinate system.
In some embodiments, said display is further arranged to display a map symbol key showing map symbols and respective categories to be associated with them.
Preferably, said search system interface is further arranged in operation to control said display to display a palette of said map symbols, wherein said mapping inputs include a user selection of a map symbol from said palette, and further inputs, received whilst said map symbol is selected, defining the region to be occupied by a component of the category associated with said map symbol.
In some embodiments, said system interface further comprises a store storing variable map symbol to category mapping data, and said inputs are further able to alter the ‘meaning’ of each map symbol, i.e. to alter the category associated with each map symbol. In some of these embodiments, the search data sent by the system interface depends upon the variable map symbol to category mapping data stored in said store.
In some embodiments, the map symbol to category mapping data associates text (e.g. a textual description of a category) with a map symbol. This enables the straightforward generation of a query to a database which stores category information in textual form.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating a system to provide a system interface, said system comprising a display and a pointing device, said method comprising:
controlling said display to display a system output mapping area;
receiving inputs from said pointing device defining, for each of one or more system output component categories, one or more regions within said system output mapping area;
controlling said display to display a system output map by displaying, in each of the specified regions of said system output mapping area, a map symbol symbolising the system output component category attributed to that region by the user; and
sending an output specification to said system, said output specification specifying a system output whose composition matches the composition displayed in said system output mapping area.
In some embodiments said method further comprises operating said system to label different sections of digital data items as belonging to different categories. This can usefully enable the retrieval of digital documents having an internal structure which matches an internal structure portrayed by the user using a search system interface according to the first aspect of the present invention. Internal structure here means the position and extent of each document section within the document.
A first embodiment provides a user with a facility to schedule their consumption of video content.